Tipping Point Community, Funder Behind Investment, Announces Release of Third-Party Evaluation by Urban Institute Featuring Results and Lessons Learned
SAN FRANCISCO (Thursday, March 21) – Today, Tipping Point Community, a nonprofit that works to break the cycle of poverty for people in the Bay Area, announced the release of a report detailing the results of the organization’s Chronic Homelessness Initiative (CHI). This $100 million, five-year initiative by Tipping Point marked the largest private investment to address homelessness in San Francisco’s history.
The evaluation, which was conducted and published by researchers from the Urban Institute, an internationally-recognized social and economic policy research organization, highlights the successes and challenges of the initiative, including:
- Innovating and maximizing flexible resources: Tahanan–a groundbreaking, 100% permanent supportive housing (PSH) building that was built faster and with lower costs per unit than other similar PSH buildings in the City–served as a prime example of Tipping Point’s ability to move quickly using flexible, private resources and innovate in different ways to test new solutions.
- Improving the systems that respond to homelessness: By helping strengthen relationships between the City and its partners, ensuring people who have personal experience with homelessness inform program design, and applying external pressure to ensure transparency and accountability, Tipping Point contributed to improvements in how the City and its nonprofit partners respond to homelessness.
- Exceeding housing placement targets: During the initiative, the City and its nonprofit partners, including Tipping Point, housed 7,767 individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The number of housing placements far exceeded the original goal of 5,500 placements.
- Underestimating the number of people entering homelessness: One of the challenges in meeting the goal of halving chronic homelessness was developing a holistic understanding of the number of people entering or becoming chronically homeless. Tipping Point funded prevention strategies and pilots in an attempt to address this challenge, but the scale of the inflow far outweighed the available resources and programs to meet the need.
“When we set out to address chronic homelessness in San Francisco, we did it in a way that was authentic to who we are at Tipping Point—we were ambitious and held our partners and ourselves accountable,” said Sam Cobbs, CEO of Tipping Point. “Our goal was bold, but we had to draw a line in the sand to make fast change for the thousands of people living on our streets. We are proud of the work we have done with our partners and the impact the programs will continue to make for years to come.”
“San Francisco’s homelessness response has transformed significantly since 2017 and our research found that CHI made several key contributions to that transformation,” said Samantha Batko, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and principal investigator of the evaluation of CHI. “These contributions included creating proofs of concept for successful interventions that others could replicate, building the capacity of both government and community partners, and convening partners who often work in silos to address chronic homelessness collectively. Lessons from the implementation of CHI can be applied in cities across the country to more effectively end homelessness.”
Built on the learnings from CHI, Tipping Point has continued to invest in strategies to address homelessness in San Francisco more broadly, focusing on three priority areas: homelessness prevention, key populations experiencing disproportionate rates of homelessness, and improved transparency and accountability.
Visit Tipping Point’s website to read more about the Urban Institute report which includes details on the breakdown of the $100 million investment, additional successes, challenges, and learnings.
About Tipping Point Community
Tipping Point’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty for people in the Bay Area who don’t have the resources to meet their basic needs. Since 2005, Tipping Point has invested more than $410 million for housing, early childhood, education, and employment solutions in the region. Our Board covers 100% of our operating costs, so every dollar donated goes where it’s needed most. Last year, our grantees provided life-changing services to nearly 90,000 of our neighbors across the Bay Area. Visit us at www.tippingpoint.org.
